By staking through Babylon’s protocol, you delegate your BTC to participate in securing the Babylon Genesis blockchain (and its connected Bitcoin Supercharged Networks).
In return, you earn rewards in Babylon’s native token BABY, without needing to send your Bitcoin to a third party or bridge it to another blockchain.
Your Bitcoin is held in a self-custodial, time-locked output on the Bitcoin blockchain - until the unbonding period ends.
Bitcoin doesn’t support staking natively. That means billions in BTC sit idle and miss out on opportunities to earn rewards. Until now, earning rewards on BTC meant bridging assets to other blockchains, which often involves unnecessary complexity and risk.
Babylon unlocks a new path.
With Babylon’s Bitcoin Supercharged Networks, you can use your bitcoin to secure Proof-of-Stake chains, directly from the Bitcoin network. This allows you to start earning rewards on your BTC without ever leaving the safety of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work foundation.
Only cryptocurrencies that use proof-of-stake (PoS) based consensus mechanisms can be staked. Bitcoin and other proof-of-work (PoW) coins cannot be staked. However, with Kraken opt-in rewards you are able to earn on a range of crypto assets, including some that cannot be directly staked.
Yes, staking carries risks, including market volatility, lock-up periods, potential slashing penalties and platform security issues. While staking on Kraken can help to lessen or even eliminate some of these risks, it’s always worth doing your own research before participating in crypto staking.
Bitcoin Staking is bonded, meaning you have to wait a specific amount of time before your funds are unlocked. This wait time is a requirement of the Babylon protocol, and is typically around 7 days.
During the unbonding period, your BTC cannot be traded or withdrawn until the period ends.
After the unbonding period expires, your BTC will be returned to your Spot balance, at which point it can be withdrawn or traded).
You do not earn rewards on the staked BTC during the unbonding period.
Kraken is renowned for being one of the industry’s most trusted and secure crypto exchanges. With that said, we strongly advise our clients to follow best security practices and ensure they perform their own rigorous due diligence before staking Bitcoin with any platform
We regularly make new staking cryptocurrencies available on Kraken. To view the latest list, please check out our staking assets page here.
No, all Babylon staking occurs on the Bitcoin chain using Bitcoin script and UTXOs. You do not need to transfer your Bitcoin out of your Kraken account in order to start earning rewards.
